Whalsay, (Old NorseHvalsey, meaning "Whale Island"), often referred to as the "Bonnie Isle", lies off the east coast of the north east ShetlandMainland. It is served by ro-ro ferries which operate from Laxo, in Dury Voe, or Vidlin, depending on the weather conditions, to Symbister, which is the main settlement on Whalsay. There is also an airstrip at the north end of the island.

The island is about 5 miles long and 2 miles wide, and the highest point is the Ward of Clett, at 119m.

The Hanseatic Booth (or Bremen Böd) and modern fishing boats at Symbister, Whalsay

Old picture of kelp being burned near Brough. The persons are L to R, Gracie Williamson, Janet Hutchison, Barbara Hutchison and the child is Willie Hutchison.

The main industry of the island has always been fishing. The harbour facilities at Symbister have been greatly improved over recent years to accommodate the large pelagic trawlers which are based in the island. A museum has been created in the restored Symbister Pierhouse, also called the Hanseatic Booth, to exhibit details of fishing from centuries past, when German merchants from the Hanseatic League traded for the cured fish which were caught from open boats, called Sixareens, in the days of the Haaf Fishing.

As well as the Hanseatic Booth there are several other notable buildings on Whalsay. Benie House and Yorie Biggins, dating from the Bronze Age, and Sodom, where Hugh MacDiarmid and Valda Trevlyn lived in the 1930s and early 1940s, which has been restored by The Shetland Amenity Trust after years of neglect. Visitors to the house during that time included, as young men still to make their mark on the world, the influential Edinburgh philosopher George Davie and the great Gaelic poet Sorley Maclean.
Also of note is the impressive Georgian Mansion, Symbister House, now the home of Whalsay School. Overlooking Symbister harbour it was the built by the Bruce family in the early 1800s. The cost of the building, over £30,000, virtually bankrupted the family.

Whalsay has an impressive leisure centre and also Britain's most northerly 18 hole golf course is situated at Skaw, at the north end of the island.